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Father tries to rescue son from police, gets crushed under police vehicle

Publish Date: 9-03-18 11:51 PM

♦SSP says case filed against police driver♦ written by Mushtaq Ahmad
BARAMULLA: Attempts to prevent the police from arresting a youth in Delina village in Baramulla ended in tragedy when the father of the youth was run over by the police vehicle, and died of the injuries, late on Wednesday evening. The family of the deceased claimed that the police deliberately crushed the elderly man under their vehicle.
The incident led to protests and shutdown in Delina area on Thursday. A large number of people also attended the funeral and raised anti-government slogans. The authorities had to suspend mobile internet services in Baramulla district from late Wednesday evening. The services were restored Thursday afternoon. Train services were also suspended till Thursday afternoon, a police official said.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain, in an official statement to the press said that on Wednesday 8:30pm, a 60-year-old person named Abdul Aziz Ahanger was hit by a police vehicle near Delina Baramulla. He was taken to District Hospital Baramulla where he succumbed to his injuries.
The SSP said that a case under FIR number 39/2018 under Section 304a (causing death by negligence) was registered against the driver of the police vehicle, Abdul Ahad, who was arrested and the police vehicle in question was seized. Further investigation into the incident is going on, the SSP said.
Locals in Delina said that on Wednesday at about 8pm, some youths of Delina held a protest on Srinagar-Baramulla road and tried to stop the movement of vehicles. A police team reached the spot and chased them away. The police then tried to arrest a local youth, Touqeer Ahmad Ahanger, but people including family members of the youth clashed with the police. In this scuffle, the police vehicle ran over and crushed to death the father of the youth. Locals took the injured man to District Hospital Baramulla but there he succumbed to his injuries at about 9pm.
The deceased was identified as Abdul Aziz Ahangar, 60, son of Gulam Ahmad Ahangar, resident of Rather Pora Delina. He was a labourer.
Touqeer Ahmad, the son of Ahangar whom police had tried to arrest, said, “I was outside my house when a team of police arrived at our home and asked me about my father. I told them that I am his son. As soon as the policemen heard my name, they bundled me in their vehicle. But I cried out and some people, including my father and other family members, came out of the house and began asking questions about my arrest. After a while I was released but the police vehicle crushed my father to death.”
The wife of Abdul Aziz said, “We were inside our home when we heard the cries of our son outside. We rushed out and saw 10 to 15 policemen bundling our son in their vehicle. When we stopped them from doing so, they abused us, including me and my daughter. Later, when we kept resisting, they released our son but crushed to death my husband with their vehicle. Now police are forcing us to change our statement to say that my husband was killed by accident, but how can we say that when my husband was killed in front of me?”
Soon after the incident, a large number of people gathered around the house of Ahangar and held protests, while some people reached the Srinagar-Baramulla road and protested there. Late in the night, the body was shifted to public health centre Delina, from where on Thursday morning police handed over the body to the family. Ahangar was buried in the martyrs’ graveyard of Delina near the Jamia Masjid, where hundreds of people participated in the funeral prayers.
Locals said that a complete shutdown was observed in Delina and surrounding areas on Thursday and hundreds of police, army and CRPF troops were deployed by the authorities.
Normal life, though, was reported in the nearby Baramulla and Sopore towns during the day. Only a few shopkeepers and tuition centre owners closed their business, and traffic was normally plying on roads across the district.